Warner Bros. Discovery Expected To Shut Down CNN+

Warner Bros. Discovery was formed on April 8th, 2022 as a result of AT&T’s divestment of WarnerMedia and its merger with Discovery, Inc. CNN is a news-based pay television network based in Atlanta, Georgia. CNN Global, a division of Warner Bros. Discovery, owns the network. CNN+ is expected to be shut down by Warner Bros. Discovery shortly.

According to Variety, Warner Bros. Discovery is shutting down CNN+ and will give specifics on Thursday, marking one of the company’s first major moves since completing the WarnerMedia-Discovery merger less than two weeks ago.

The decision effectively ends a venture that irritated David Zaslav, the new CEO of Warner Bros. Discovery, from the start, according to people familiar with the situation. Zaslav was irritated by Jason Kilar’s decision to launch CNN+ just weeks before Discovery took over operations when WarnerMedia was owned by AT&T.

According to sources, Chris Licht, CNN’s incoming CEO, sent a memo to staffers Thursday morning about an “important meeting” scheduled for noon and is expected to inform employees of the decision at that time. Licht has already informed Andrew Morse, CNN’s executive vice president in charge of the newly launched streaming-video outlet. 

The decision appears to put an end to CNN’s ambitious attempt to enter the TV-news streaming wars, which are already being fought by NBCUniversal, CBS News, Fox News, and ABC News. MSNBC has announced plans to launch more opinion-driven shows in order to increase subscriptions to Peacock, its corporate parent’s streaming service.

Fox News has broadened the scope of Fox Nation, adding true-crime documentaries and even movies to the service in an effort to attract not only fans of its cable news channel, but also a broader range of potential subscribers. CBS News recently restructured its streaming-video efforts and added new shows hosted by Norah O’Donnell and Tony Dokoupil.

NBC News and ABC News have placed bets on live news programming, placing anchors such as Tom Llamas and Linsey Davis in early-evening weekday programming.

Let’s wait and see what happens next. To get the latest updates, keep an eye on Thirsty.

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